Honour Thy Father
by catherinedoncaster1995
Summary: Catherine's father is murdered and the team must help her find the killer. Yet Steve begins to recognize the angry signs of vengeance stirring in his girlfriend's eyes, and he struggles to help her work through the case, and protect her from the lack of objectivity he knows from experience comes from losing someone close. It is his case to run, and she is his to protect.
1. Chapter 1

**MCGARRETT/ROLLINS RESIDENCE 20:00**

"It's a nice place your dad has got there…"

"Yeh he seems very happy, it might be something you could mention to your aunt deb… I mean, they are all older people there, although don't tell her that, and they don't have nurses or anything they have their own place it's just… secure…"

"If anyone is going to mention that to her it is going to be you." Steve's chuckle sounded through the bathroom door, "she adores you and won't _slap_ you like she would me if I suggested she moved to a retirement complex."

"She might like living on the island…" Cath shrugged from the bedroom.

"I'm sure she would, but _not_ in a retirement complex…"

"Hey I never thought it would be for dad either but hey," she laughed, "he seems happy, 'best two weeks of my life', he said."

"I remember…" Steve emerged.

"Wow…"Catherine laughed, hands on her hips as Steve exited the bathroom, towel around his waist, drying his face on a smaller white towel.

"What?" He lifted his eyebrows, feigning innocence as she laughed, rocking backwards and forwards on her heels, stood at the end of their bed as she was, folding shirts and laying them on the mattress.

She laughed and pointed to him fleetingly, a grin never leaving her lips, "The err, Sinead O' Connor look is back then is it? Or did you just cut too much off doing your sideburns…"

"Clearly," He dropped the towel he was holding on the floor, "you have been spending too much time with Danny."

"It's cute that you think so," she lifted her arms to hook them around his neck, fingers playing with the short stubs of his cropped dark hair. His arms wrapped around her waist, broad hands setting on her hips.

She smiled up at him and teased, "but you know I know you better than that… what happened?"

"They weren't even," He admitted firmly with a shrug of his shoulders, "so I sorted it out. I saw a problem and I fixed it, you can hardly tell the difference."

"Negative to that report commander…" She snorted and rested her forehead against his bare shoulder for a moment, her back shaking with repressed laughs.

"It isn't that funny Catherine." He poked her in the side playfully as she lifted her head, tipping it back smile at him, leaning her soft body against his.

"This is why you should let me do it."

He caught her hand in his and moved it away from pulling at his short sideburns playfully. He lowered their hands between them, her other fingers lacing through his at chest height.

"I am sure I don't need your help but thank you." He told her firmly.

"You sure?" She tilted her head to one side.

"Affirmative lieutenant." He chuckled at her mood, bending down to capture her lips in his firmly.

She clung to his shoulders, her body bending backwards under his as he dropped his hands lower down her back.

"Steve…"She moaned, gripping at him, "Commander…"

"Ugh I love with when you talk like that…" Steve crouched slightly, picking her up to wrap her legs around his waist, before turning to gently lay her on the bed beneath him, his body sheltering hers as he trailed kisses from her jaw, "oh lieutenant…"

**LEO RETIREMENT VILLAGE: 12:00 MIDNIGHT**

The sound of gunfire shattered through the air.

**MCGARRETT/ROLLINS RESIDENCE 01:00**  
There was a hammering knock at the front door downstairs.

Cath peeled her eyes open and grumbled as the knocking continued. She glanced at the clock, sighed at the time, and slipped out of bed.

"If it's Danny he will go away." Steve groped for her across the covers to grab her wrist, "Cath ignore it..."

"Ugh…" she cursed as the knocking continued, "Steve..."

"No. No." He tugged on her wrist firmly, "Why do you always answer the door like this, just let them knock it will be fine, great even…"

The hammering went on and on and Cath jabbed him in the bare side with her finger. He released her wrist and muttered something under his breath as she turned on a light, pulling on her tank top that had been discarded an hour previous by Steve in his haste.

"This attitude coming from a man who once wouldn't let me downstairs because he thought there was an intruder." She shot at me as the knocking continued.

He didn't look up from his pillow, spread eagled over the bed, "intruders don't knock first."

She smirked and turned the hall light on her way out, leaving a trail of lamp light in her wake.

Steve cursed, "So much for a historic evening. It's one in the morning Cath!" She heard him grumble under his breath as she descended the stairs away from their bed room.

The cool wood of the stairs felt especially icy on her feet as she worked her way down into the living room.

Through the glass of the front door and front windows she could see the flashing of blue siren lights, and fingers stood on the front grass.

Her world seemed to slow, and her heart faltered, as through the window she saw a priest and a man holding a Navy Admirals white hat on a flag.

Her smile faded as she reached for the door, pulling it open to reveal a Rear Admiral she vaguely recognized, a priest, and several other officers, police and navy stood on the lawn facing her.

The blue lights of the cars blinded her, and her heart started to squirm as the priest bowed his head over the flag and hat he held.

A shaking hand moved from the doorframe to her mouth as the Rear Admiral removed his hat before her.

"Miss Rollins, my name is Burt Keegan, Rear Admiral of the US Navy, I was a friend of your fathers, planning to retire in his footsteps later this year… this is

James Deegan your father's Naval priest, and Officer Duke Lukela."

It was in that moment Steve appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed in his board shorts and SEALS tee and rushed down to be at Catherine's side as Duke stepped forwards.

"Duke?" Steve looked between them all.

Catherine mouth was hanging slightly open, tears in her eyes, vision locked on the flag and hat in the priest's hand.

"I'm very sorry Catherine." Duke apologized, "officers found your father dead this morning in his retirement condo. Can we come in?"

Steve straightened and instinctively wrapped his arm around Catherine's shoulders, pulling her to his chest as she stifled a sob behind her hand, fighting to remain strong despite the crumble that started around the edge of her expression.

**MCGARRETT/ROLLINS RESIDENCE 01:05**  
Steve was sat beside Catherine on the sofa, his arm around her back, rubbing it softly as she stared forwards, breathing shallowly, a few stray tears on her cheeks.

She felt cold.

The folded flag with his admiralty had sat on it filled her vision, and she could barely hear the voices around her.

Duke, the priest and Burt stood facing them hands folded in respect.

"Gun fire was heard from admiral Rollins condo in the retirement village around midnight." Duke was explaining gently, "a neighbor saw two men in black running away from the house. Yet by the time the security and witness arrived they were gone. There was no sign of forced entry. They phoned for the police and then found admiral Rollins on the floor of his room, shot twice in the chest, the security team entering by the master code on the door alarm system, which showed no sign of damage or having been tampered with."

When Catherine said nothing, just drew in a pained stuttering breath, Steve looked up, "Why weren't Five O called?"

"They were commander." Duke said sadly, "The body was found only one hour ago. We were first responders, then when we found out who it was we phoned detective Williams. He and the rest of your team are working the scene with forensics as we speak. You were not phoned directly McGarret, due to the personal nature of this case."

"I want to go there." Catherine looked up, wiping away tears and running shaking hands over her hips, "I want to see him."

Steve sighed and rubbed her back in a circular motion, "Cath…"

"I need to see what happened," She insisted firmly her eyes wide and spinning to him, "I _need_ to know what is going to happen…"

Steve pushed his lips together and saw her vision waver with more tears that she was trying to master. He gently squeezed her hand.

"Okay then..."

Catherine rose to her feet and rubbed her hands over her hips, "Duke if you could phone Steve if you find anything or… and…"

"Your father was a great man Miss Rollins." Rear Admiral Burt rose to his feet, "I am deeply sorry."

She swallowed, accepting his hug as she fought to gain control of herself.

"Thank you."

**LEO RETIREMENT VILLAGE – ADMIRAL ROLLINS' CONDO: 01:30**

The sight of bright blue lights through the air made Catherine's heart stutter. And she trudged almost blindly through the throng of police officers and 'Police line do not cross' tape as she made her way up to the Condo.

The lights were on, while most of the surrounding buildings were in darkness. There were some elderly residents stood out in their pajamas watching what was going on.

And she felt tears fall down her face anew as she entered the condo.

Photos of her as a little girl, through her years at the Naval academy, and then more recent ones when her father had visited her here, and then come to live on the island permanently two weeks ago, smiled down from the cold white walls at her.

It all smelt too new, too clean.

He had barely begun to live in this building.

It felt so small, full of sympathetic police officers she barely knew as she felt her throat close up.

Then Steve was there, taking her hand in his and squeezing it firmly.

"Where…" her voice was broken and barely formed as men in white suits walked past them from down the corridor.

"In his room." Steve looked at her carefully, "Cath if you want to wait…"

"No." She coughed to clear her throat, her hand shaking in his, "I want to…"

A police officer mad a banging noise behind them and they both looked to see him and another young officer trying to pull in a gurney.

Catherine felt her knees give way and Steve caught her, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her to his chest, kissing her hair as she cried into his chest.

Danny, Chin and Kono appeared at the end of the hallway out of her father's bedroom.

They pushed their lips together to stop their own tears.

Catherine felt Steve kiss her temple softly and she clung to him, wanting nothing more than for the next time she opened her eyes a realization to hit her that it was all a dream.

But no absolution would come.

**LEO RETIREMENT VILLAGE – ADMIRAL ROLLINS' CONDO – HIS BEDROOM: 01:30**

Steve watched her carefully as they stepped into the bedroom. Thankfully, her face had been pressed into his chest when her father had been wheeled past on the gurney in a body bag. Steve had had no intention of letting her witness that.

He could remember the pain of losing his own father, and he felt a new pain to think that she was feeling that.

She was pale and silent as they stepped into his room, yet she stopped short when she saw the pool of blood on the floor, several markers around, the bed messed up and spattered with blood.

Men in white suits were crouched all over the room taking photos and swabs.

Catherine swallowed, her tongue feeling large in her mouth, as she wrapped her arms around herself and stood facing Max, who wore a deep expression of sympathy in his eyes.

"Lieutenant… I am very sorry for your loss."

"Thank you." She almost mouthed the words, for no real sound came out. She looked up to the ceiling and blinked heavily, licking her lower lip to try and calm herself.

"If there is anything I can do, aside from helping the investigation with my findings, please do not hesitate to ask." Max gently put a hand over hers.

"Can you tell me what happened?" She almost whispered, eyes falling down to the blood on the floor.

Max immediately looked to the others who were stood behind her, most notably Steve, who shot him a wide eyes warning look over Cath's shoulder.

"Actually lieutenant," max said gently, "I think what I have to tell you would be better received somewhere away from here."

At his words Cath straightened, drew on all her Navy strength and fisted her hands at her sides, pushing all her upset away firmly with both hands.

She bolted herself down for the task in hand, as Danny and she had both seen Steve do many times.

Her eyes dried with determination.

"Then let's go to the medical exam office shall we?"


	2. Chapter 2

**MEDICAL EXAMINATION OFFICE – 02:00**

"Hey…" Danny joined Kono and Chin in the office part of Max's part of the workplace. He handed them both a coffee and set the two spares down on the table, "How is she doing?"

"It's hard to say."

Kono's response came as her eyes flitted to Chin, recognizing the same distant sadness in his eyes as there was in Catherine's, as he recounted the loss of Malia.

Steve was also being plagued by images not of his father's murder, but of himself afterwards, and he was clutching at straws to think of ways to guide Cath through her grief.

"Hey Chin…"Danny said gently as they watched Steve and Catherine stood beside the exam table through the glass, his arm gently around her as she stared at her father's pale and still face, covered up to the neck with a sheet as he was, "buddy if this is going to be difficult it won't matter if…"

"What happened to Malia can't be compared with this." He told Danny firmly, yet his eyes held a soft and caring edge that never fully left him, "I want to help Catherine, same as you do, because I know what she is going through, we all know it…" his voice went quiet, "we all know what it is like to lose someone."

Through the glass they watched as Cath stepped back away from Steve and wiped her eyes, straightening her spin and resting her hands on her hips, "they can come in now."

Steve watched her for a moment before he looked at his friends through the glass, he nodded gravely, and they entered reverently, like approaching a church alter.

"Max what do you know?" Steve looked to the man on the opposite side of the gurney.

Max spoke deliberately and gently, looking at all of them in turn as they watched and listened.

His words meant everything to Catherine, but they hurt her just the same. Her eyes couldn't move from her father's face.

He could have been sleeping.

"At first I thought that the COD was just a two gunshot wound to the chest." Max explained, "but on further examination I found discoloration around the eyes, and several hundreds of fibers on the inside of the victims mouth and neck, similarly, HPS recovered a pillow from the bed, close to where Admiral Rollins fell, which contained many traces of saliva. Although this is not uncommon to find on a bed pillow, the fibers in Admiral Rollins' mouth were of the same kind as the pillow, meaning it had been placed over his mouth for a certain amount of time."

Catherine drew in a sharp stuttering breath and Steve flexed his arm around her, worried for a moment that she would collapse.

But he knew she was made of stronger stuff than that. Yet he also wanted her to know that he was there for her, without smothering her, as he knew she would hate.

"Meaning before he was shot someone tried to smother him where he slept." She hissed, her shoulders shaking with anger, new furious tears touching her eyes.  
"my autopsy concludes that someone tried to smother Admiral Rollins while he was laying down," Max almost swallowed as she stared at her father's body, her teeth pushing through.

"as you say, still lying in bed…" he shifted, "then according to the bruising on his ribs and wrists there was a struggle, and it finally took two bullet wounds to kill him."

"So if this is a robbery gone bad, someone wanted whoever found him to think that he died of natural causes, if they were planning on smothering first." She stated coldly.

Danny and the others exchanged a look and Steve put a hand on her shoulder, "Cath…"

"Smothering leaves no outward traces of foul play," She spun to face them, grabbing at the anger she felt because it hurt less than the grief which threatened to swamp her with every breath, "because of his age the next visitor, or whoever found him, may have concluded he just died in his sleep."

"It is true that any robber likely underestimated him because of his age." Steve accepted, putting his hands up to try and calm her, "he was a strong guy, in the navy his entire life…"

"He took them on long enough for them to panic and shoot him." Danny muttered.

"But that doesn't explain why someone would want to kill him!" Catherine cried, pointing at her father's body, "he had been living on this island only a few weeks and someone shoots him, after smothering him?" She drew in a long breath to try and calm herself, closing her eyes for a moment and swallowing, her words sharp and clear, "if this is a robbery gone badly, and they were surprised into not covering their tracks properly… why haven't they taken anything, and how exactly did they manage to get in without not only not tampering with the alarm, but entering the correct code that would not set it off?"

She opened wide eyes to look at them all as she recounted the points of the case they had discuss on the way in.

Steve swallowed and dropped his hands when her demanding eyes turned on him.

"I don't know." He admitted, "but we will find out Cath…"

He fought to try and calm her, to soothe her, as she pushed her hair from her face and sniffed, swallowing and her shoulders hunching.

Throwing Max and the others an apologetic and helpless glance, Steve turned back to her and gently reached out, placing his hands on her shoulders and stroking them softly.

"Cath, you need to get some sleep… we will…"

"No what I need…" She looked up at him and hissed in upset anger, "Is to find out who shot and tried to smother my dad…" Her voice caught and she stepped back, hands on her hips, "and I need you to help me do that." Her voice cracked heavily and she stiffened at her own weakness.

Steve straightened, eyes wide and honest, although he sighed in his worry for her, "of course."

**FIVE O HQ – 03:00**

It was another hour before they returned to HQ, sealing themselves in their own officers.

"Hey, nothing in Admiral Rollins' bank transactions that looks out of the ordinary." Danny set the statements on Steve's desk, watching as the man turned his eyes away from his laptop to glance at them briefly, not really seeing them.

"His name was Geoff." He looked to Danny, "Geoff."

"Well I didn't know him, and Admiral sounds more respectful." Danny murmured, "I don't know much about navy Life but I know that being an Admiral was quite an achievement."

"Quite." Steve looked back to his laptop.

"Anything on his emails?"

"No. Not a thing." Steve slammed the laptop shut and put his head in his hands briefly, before he shoved himself up and walked to the windows of his office to stare through the blinds out into the main concourse.

Catherine stood at the foot of the smart table, staring at photos of the crime scene and her father's body.

She had her arms wrapped tight around herself, jaw locked, no tears in her eyes.

She knew that by now she had cried them all.

Her heart _hurt_. But she knew that the best balm for it would be to find out who murdered her father.

She clung to the strength he had taught her, the strength that had got her through naval academy when people doubted her, what got her through dangerous missions gone sideways like Kabul and Afghanistan, what got her through when Steve was hurt…

It would get her through this struggle now.

"It is hard; to watch someone you care about going through a difficult time." Danny said as gently as he could, hands in his pockets at Steve's side as the man folded his arms, eyes locked on Catherine through the blinds.

"The more I try to help her the more she will push me away." Steve muttered.

"But you don't give up trying to help…" Danny told him, "You don't."

Steve looked down at him almost questioningly.

"We didn't stop trying to help ou when you looked for your fathers killer." He reminded him.

Steve straightened and looked down, before the tiniest of smiles touched his face and eyes, "no you err, preferred to get in the way most of the time…"

Danny lifted his eyebrows, "that's not true and not funny…"

Steve sighed and looked back to Cath's figure.

"She will be okay, solving this case will be closure, and then you can help her grieve just… steer her." He counselled, gesturing a pushing forward motion with his hands.

"Steer?"

"Yes." Danny nodded, "_steer_."

"Hey Guys," Kono stuck her head around; I've finished with the CCTV."

"And?" Steve stepped back to face her, arms folding to his sides.

Through the window Danny could see Cath be joined by Chin, and her cover her face with her hands in frustration for a moment.

He turned back in time to see Kono shake her head sadly.

"Their faces are covered and they are all in black." She explained as she walked with them to stand with Catherine and Chin around the smart table, swiping up a black and white image of the street where Admiral Rollins had been living, "They enter using the security pad on the door to deactivate the alarm. They don't turn around or give us a clear image."

"They knew the code?" Danny narrowed his eyes.

"Duke said there had been no sign of a forced entry, and the system hadn't been tampered with." Chin recalled.

"My dad wouldn't have given that code out lightly..." Catherine said quietly, "he wasn't like that."

"Well it turns out he wouldn't have had too." Kono agreed, "I got in touch with the manufacturer of the alarm system that Admiral Rollins had installed in his house. It turns out that while upon installation the owner is advised to set up their own brand new personal digit, for their eyes only or whoever else they chose, but there is a 'master' code that is kept there for safety reasons, the same for every alarm… and I checked, and they are in place so that when the alarms are fitted in the homes, the complex owners can get in in an emergency."

"Duke said as much when they filled us in." Catherine stepped up, "he was explaining how that is how the site manager and security found him."

"So what you are saying is the company who own the complex where admiral Rollins was newly living would have known the code to get into his house, would have known how to get into all the houses…" Danny put it all together.

"Who runs the complex?" Catherine asked as Steve opened his mouth to do the same.

"An Elli Leo, and Tamas Leo." Chin snapped up their profiles, "They are brothers originally from the mainland who run the complex of some one hundred homes, their new profit and turnover is incredibly high. It's making them millionaires almost in a year."

"I know it's a retirement village but how can their turnover be that quick?" Danny looked to Steve who almost shrugged.

"Well that's the thing about retirement homes, people die and new ones move in, they don't leave the condos to anyone…"

"No but the number of deaths in the Leo's village where Admiral Rollins was living is quite high." Kono informed them, swiping around letters and bills they had pulled as background on the complex, "People who move in, usually don't live there for more than two weeks."

"Just two weeks?" Cath whispered.

"Yeh."

"That's how long…"

"My dad had been there two weeks." She cut Steve off.

Silence settled for a moment and Danny drew in a long breath through his cheeks, "Okay…" He settled his stance as Steve watched Catherine's intent eyes carefully.

"Here's what I'm thinking, stop me if it sounds crazy…" Danny pushed his palms together, "but these Leo brothers they don't charge high rent, which is what makes it attractive to people to move in… I'm thinking that they couldn't make the kind of money they wanted keeping old residents, so they let them stay for two weeks, long enough for relatives to stop ringing and checking up on them every day, long enough for them to get settled… then they smother them with their own pillow, so it seems they die of natural causes, they are seemingly blame free and a new resident is already queuing up to live there."

"And they use the 'master' code to sneak in and out." Chin confirmed.

"Do we have an address?" Steve looked to Kono who was already tapping on the screen.

"Waikiki, Kola road."

"We are there." Cath just about had her SIG drawn in the same moment.

**OUTSIDE FIVE O HQ – 03:20**

"Catherine..." Steve walked up to her as she yanked on her body armor, doing up the Velcro with a firm smack of her hands. She checked her weapon without so much as a glance at him as he walked to gently wrap a hand around her wrist.

"Cat…"

"If you are going to suggest me staying behind you can save your breath." She turned to look at him, anger masking her tears, "I am coming with you Steve."

"I just…"

"If any part of what we suspect is true of these brothers and what kind of operation they were running, smothering old people, my _dad_ included," she barely realized she was shouting, "how can you ask me to stay behind?"

"I know how it feels, okay, I do." He insisted.

"Then you of _all_ people should not be…"

"Catherine-"

"Steve this is _not_ up for discussion!" She cried, holding her hands out after smacking them to her forehead, "okay?"

It wasn't really a question.

He locked his jaw and cocked his head, "as you were then lieutenant."

She pushed her lips together and spun, climbing into Steve's truck and slamming the door behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

**LEO RESIDENCE – WAIKIKI – KOLA ROAD 03:40 **

The cars pulled up as quietly as they could, dropping out of vehicles, killing the engines and dropping low to the pavement as they crept towards the small white house.

Gins in hand, body amour on, they made their way up the road towards the low garden wall which showed the property boundary, and the start of the garden which sloped up towards the house, almost as though it was built on a tiny hill.

Catherine could barely hear anything over the hammering in her chest, yet it helped keep her focused on the task at hand.

"What are they still doing up at nearly four…" Danny noted the fact that the lights were on quietly, "probably _not_ watching QVC…"

Suddenly gunfire filled the air.

It shattered through the windows of the tiny house, spraying down towards where they were stood.

All of them dropped to the ground and crawled forwards to take shelter down beside the garden wall.

They sat on the pavement, nearly crouched, guns held tight, as they pressed their backs and sides up against the concrete, sheltering them from the gunfire which fanned overhead, hitting where they had been stood.

"Do you want to phone SWAT?" Danny looked to Steve.

By way of a response Steve clicked his SIG and checked it for ammo.

The cop from New Jersey pushed his lips together, "Of course you don't…"

There was a break in the gunfire and Steve barely had time to blink before Catherine was up, "cover me…"

She dove over the wall like a veteran out of the trenches, rolled across the grass, and was sprinting up towards the house.

"Catherine…" He hissed, locked his gun and looked to Danny, "cover us, _now_…"

Kono, Chin and Danny didn't need telling twice. They rose up and fired warning gunfire at the house over Steve and Catherine who were nearly at the front door.

"Catherine…" He was hissing, "Catherine wait."

Of course she didn't.

"Five O!" She shouted and slammed her foot against it, barreling into the house. Her gun swung left and right as she surveyed the house, a cramped space full of books and boxes. To their right stood the front window, and in front of that was nothing but broken glass. Catherine went that way, storming through the house with her gun tracking around her.

"Clear!" She shouted.

"Clear!" Steve's voice joined her back in the lounge room they stood in, as Chin, Danny and Kono entered.  
"Did they get away?"

There was a crash from upstairs.

Steve bolted before Catherine could even move and she made to run after them, but something in the back of the house where it was dimly lit caught her eye.

The back door slid shut and a hand pulled away from the glass on the other side.

A sneering man looked back at her for a moment before he bolted into the darkness.

"I've got the other one!" She shouted and raced for the back door.

Upon hearing her words, her words alone, upstairs Steve spun to see her not following,

"_Catherine_!"

**LEO RESIDENCE BACK YARD – WAIKIKI – KOLA ROAD 03:50 **

"Stop, Five O!"

"Catherine!"

"Stop!"

Catherine paid no attention to Steve's booming voice behind her.

She was halfway down the large sloping lawn, in pursuit of a man all in black who was racing towards the river at the bottom.

He turned around briefly, getting three shots off.

Two struck the ground and one slammed into her body amour, causing her to cough and stumble, dropping her gun.  
"Catherine!" Steve shouted, panic in his eyes, unable to get a clear shot at the fleeing suspect due to Cath still running after him.

The momentum of tearing down the sloping garden kept Cath in pursuit, even though she could feel a bruise explode between her body amour and her body.

The shooting suspect leapt high into the air, crashing down in a small boat which bobbed up and down in the river at the end of the garden, barely visible as it was as black as the night around them, the light from the house barely reaching where they were.

Without thought Cath threw herself in after him.

He spun and shot at her, but the bullet hit the side of the boat. She kicked the gun from his hand and he grabbed her, throwing her across his body, hitting her in the ribs, yet his knuckles colliding with the rough texture of her body amour did him more harm than her,

Fuelled with vengeance, she twisted herself as he recoiled, hooking her legs around his neck and dragging his weight over her. He toppled from the boat, and she, clinging to him as she was, was dragged into the black water with him.

By the time Steve reached the bottom of the garden she had resurfaced, dragging the man twice her size to his knees before her as she stood.

She was soaked, had half a hole in her body amour, and was dragging a man out of the knee deep water.

Steve holstered his gun and threw the man face down on the floor, bending over him to do up his handcuffs.

"Listen dude, what… I don't know…"

"Shut up." Steve pushed the man face down in the grass and turned back to Cath, his eyes furious.

"You and I need to talk…"

She scoffed and ripped her fallen gun from his grip, casting cold eyes down on the man she had captured before looking back up at the house.

Danny, Chin and Kono appeared out of the darkness.

"So it turns out that the noise upstairs was from a cat." Kono sighed shortly.

Cath put her hands on breathless hips as she tried to gain control of her breathing, closing her eyes at the realizing they were a suspect short.

"But," Chin held up an evidence bag, "We found a gun, two rounds fired, and gloves with blood on the fingers."  
"Get them to Fong." Catherine stated and Steve threw her a warning look, bending to drag their suspect from the floor by the handcuffs, "Who are you?"

"Elli Leo…" The man stammered, seeming remarkably childlike despite his size.

"Good." Steve hissed, "Then we found one brother, not the other."  
Catherine flared sharply at the man Steve held before she holstered her gun to her soaking hip, "book 'em Danno."

**FIVE O HQ – 04:15 – STEVE'S OFFICE**

"I can accept that you want to find your father's killer, I get that I _really _do…" He stormed in to where she was getting changed, no longer fearing confrontation, "but I _draw the line_ at _this_."

With that he slammed the body armor she had been wearing down on his desk with his left hand, keeping it pressed on it until she looked at it.  
Cath pulled on her dry top, now in fresh clothes from her go bag, secured her badge and gun and looked down, jaw locked.

The half a hole was only three inches away from the part of the vest that covered her heart.

She lifted defiant and angry eyes to Steve and squared her shoulders, "I took a risk and it paid off, I am not going to apologize for that…"

"I don't want you to apologize." He shouted, "I want you to let me help you, instead of doing things like _this_!" he smacked his hand down on ti again, "Catherine you could have been killed…"

"I could be killed any day, you know it, I know it," furious tears rose in her eyes, "and my father being killed tonight is proof that no one is ever completely safe, there will always be some psycho in it for money or sex or _whatever_." She snapped, "But that doesn't mean we stop doing our _job_…"

"I understand what our job means Catherine." His voice rose to a shout.

"Then don't question my resolve to want to do my job well," she yelled, "Now more than _ever_ we need to get this case solved… now more than _ever_ I need to do my job so don't you dare try and stop me Steve…"

"This is too far." He snapped, "Too far lieutenant…"

"What are you going to do?" She stepped up to him, "send me on compassionate leave, _dismiss_ me?"

Steve held her eyes for long enough for her to gasp, scoff and then turn away.

"I don't want to Cath," he stated almost coldly, the tension in the room still peaked, "but you are too precious to me to-" his voice caught he cleared it, "you mean to much to me and you meant to much to your _father_ for you to get yourself injured or killed trying to avenge him…"

"After all the danger you put yourself in?" She spun to him in fury, tears stinging her gaze, "You arrogant son of a bitch!"

She hurled a pen pot from his desk at him.

He ducked to avoid it striking him square in the jaw.

It crashed into the wall behind him, shattering just as the door was pushed open.

"You didn't kill Wo Fat after ample opportunity!" She hurled at him, a small part of her relishing the way he took a step back, "So what you don't want me to have that privilege!" She almost screamed at him with a scoff, "Rest assured commander I am not so weak willed that I can't get the job done…"

"How _dare _you…" Steve was enraged, "_I didn't want to spare his life!" _He bellowed, "_But it is what we do!"_

**FIVE O HQ – 04:15 – THE BULL RING**

Danny could only watch and listen as his two best friends hurled insult, after object, after insult at one another, wrapped up in their need to look after one another as they were.

He sighed heavily and straightened, watching them stiffen as Max stepped inside the office.

**FIVE O HQ – 04:15 – STEVE'S OFFICE**

The soft clearing of a throat made them turn to see that Max had entered.

They both recoiled like the other had shot them and turned away, staring at the wall rather than one another.

Max froze for a moment, "forgive the interruption, commander you phoned me to say that lieutenant Rollins will require an antibiotic shot as she has been in the river."

"I am standing right here Max." She smacked her hands against her hips, "I can do it myself…"

Something short but deep passed in a moment of eye contact between Steve and Max, during which time Steve nodded his head once.  
"Like I need your permission." Catherine snapped at him, holding her hand out to max.

The medical examiner looked unsure, keeping a tight grip on the needle and antibiotic jar he held, "Perhaps you should get some rest lieutenant, sleep would be very beneficial."

"I am _fine_ Max just…" She drew in a long breath, fighting to control herself when her brain felt as though it was spinning through fatigue.

She was emotionally and now physically drained but she wouldn't stop.

Steve knew that.

Max looked between them and nodded, sucking the antibiotics into the injection needle, and handing it gently over to Catherine as Danny pushed open the door.

"Commander." Max looked to Steve as he made his way to the door Danny was holding open.

Steve nodded his polite thanks, although it was for more than Catherine knew in that moment.

Drawing in a long breath, Danny let the door close and watched through the blinds of the office window as Catherine lifted the hem of her shirt and held it up out of the way with her elbow.

She swallowed, looked at the ceiling for a moment, and tried to stop the spinning in her head before she jabbed the needle into the fleshy part beside her hip bone.

Steve straightened instantly, watching as she injected herself and cast it aside on the desk on the tray max had left, rubbing the needle injection point with one hand, the other pushing her hair from her face.

"See, I'm fine…" She blinked her eyes even as she spoke, and one hand moved out to the desk to steady herself as she stumbled.

Steve was slowly approaching, and her eyes were growing heavy.

"What the…" as he knew she would she fought what was now flowing through her system, reaching for the antibiotic bottle and squinting to read it, "You had him drug me!" She turned and threw the bottle at Steve, but it barely bounced off of his chest and fell to the floor, with not enough force to even break.  
"You need some sleep… you need rest…" He walked towards her but she backed away, kicking over his waste paper basket.

"You are an animal," she spat, "I don't need sleep, I need… I need…"

When her knees gave way he caught her. Wrapping his arms under hers around her back he gently let her fall against his chest, crying tiredly into his shoulder as he lifted her into his arms, kissing her temple, almost rocking her gently.

Almost silently, Danny entered the office, his face heartbroken for his friend.

"Shhh…" Steve hushed her, "just sleep…"

"I hate you," She sobbed, words not formed as they mumbled into his shoulder, "and I hate them, they killed my dad…"

"I know they did…" Steve was walking with her to the couch at the end of his office as she grew heavy against his chest, "and we will make this right…"

He lowered her down onto the sofa, making sure she was comfy, comatose as she was. He then pulled a folded blanket, for nights when he had slept her in months gone by, to lay it across her.

Placing another kiss to her temple, Steve straightened and rubbed his hands over his eyes, banishing the frustrated tears that lurked there.

"You had Max drug her?" Danny's voice for once was empty of judgment.

Steve swallowed thickly, his voice holding strong, "She needed to sleep, and she was going to get herself killed, going on like that…"

Slowly he turned to face his partner, "did Fong's findings say what we thought they would?"

Danny nodded, holding up the paper in his hands.

Steve took ti and scanned it, before flipping the file shut and squaring his shoulders.

"Then let's go speak to Mr. Elli Leo shall we?"

"She will hate you, you know." Danny said firmly, "You have drugged her and made her sleep instead of letting her question the man who killed her father…"

"We don't know it was him!" Steve shouted in the knowledge that no amount of noise was going to wake Catherine, "it could have been his brother! And it is _that_ kind of assumption that means Cath has no objectivity in this case… you know how I was," he murmured, "When we first met, obsessed with finding my father's killer… you know how I was, and I can see it happening to her… and I won't let that happen Danny, whether she hates me or not."

Danny held his gaze for a few moments.

Under the weight of it Steve put his fists to his eyes in frustration and locked his jaw, lowering them to stare intently at his friend.

"I want to solve this case, I _really_ do…" He insisted, "I want to know who and why killed her father but not this way… because I know how it ends Danny, and there is no closure in that kind of vengeance… I know that better than anyone, _Chin_ knows it too."

He straightened and shifted the folders in his hands.

"I am saving her from herself."

The words were so heartfelt and sure that Danny sighed heavily, rubbed the back of his head and looked sadly at Cath's unconscious form.

"Hey it is your call man…" he murmured almost silently, "but I am not so sure she will see it that way."


	4. Chapter 4

**FIVE O HQ - THE QUESTIONING CELL – 06:30**  
"We have been at this for hours." Danny drawled, leaning back against the stone wall, "You sit there and you don't say anything… its getting rather tedious, what? What you don't have anything to say?" He looked to Steve, "he doesn't have anything to say…"

"Well let's see if you have something to say to this." Steve turned to Elli Leo, sat still soaking in the clothes Catherine had dragged him into the river in.

"We found your DNA on the inside of the gloves and the blood of admiral Rollins on the outside." Steve was pacing up and down in the cool blue room in front of Elli, who, cuffed to the chair, was trying very hard not to panic.

Danny stood off to one side, his hands in his pockets, yet it was the rippling muscles and the steely stare on commander McGarret that was starting to make Elli squirm.

"We also found," Somehow the fact that Steve wasn't yet shouting made him seem all the more menacing, "in the same dumping spot, a gun with your brothers finger prints on it, and two bullets fired have turned out to be the same bullets which brought down a naval officer in his own home after you tried to smother him!"

Elli shook his head, fisting his hands as she struggled with the bonds, "I didn't kill him!"

"No?" Steve rounded on him, voice growing louder, "but you benefitted as much as your older brother did for killing old men and women in their sleep and passing it off as them just driving away of natural causes."

"It's was all Tamas..." Elli insisted breathlessly, "I just..."

"What?" Danny shrugged bitterly and stepped forwards, "You went along with it?"

Silence filled the air for three minutes before Elli looked down sharply, "I didn't say that."

"Well..." Danny inclined his head, "you sort of did..."

Remembering what his older brother had told him about when dealing with the cops Elli looked up sharply and raised his chin, puffing his chest out, "I won't say anything without my lawyer present."

**FIVE O HQ – STEVE'S OFFICE – 06:35**

Catherine groaned when she awoke.

She curled harder onto her side, pressing her hands to her face as she blinked her sticky and sore eyes.

Flashes of the day before came back to her and they made her feel sick.

Her stomach rolled.

With a new lease of energy she slammed her hands into the soft leather of the couch, kicked the blanket away and stumbled ignoring her heavy limbs, to the desk. She yanked on her holster and trudged towards the door, putting both hands on the glass to shove it open.

The noise caused Chin and Kono, who were sat behind their respective desks catching some sleep, to snap their heads around in time to see her open the doors to the elevator.

"Catherine!" Chin shouted, rising from his seat.

She didn't turn.

Checking her SIG the lift door closed on her, and she sunk down into the grey space beneath.

**FIVE O HQ - THE QUESTIONING CELL – 06:35**

"Where's your brother? Where's your accomplice?" Steve shouted at Elli, "See the way I think it went down is you underestimated how strong admiral Rollins was. You tried to smother him but he fought you off so you panicked and your brother but two bullets in him! It was then your job to get rid of the gun and your bloody gloves, while your brother took off to lay low for a while."

The door to the bolt room clicked open and Catherine entered.

In the cool grey light her skin looked ashen, her dark eyes sharp, and her jaw set firm.

Steve turned towards her, holding a hand up, "Cath..."

She ignored him and stormed past him, walking to stand between him and Elli, glaring down at the man, her fury rolling off of her in waves, as his eyes darted back between her and a newly speaking Danny.

"Did you not think it would be slightly off though," Danny gestured to him, "that a shooter would be able to open and close the door using the master alarm code only known to employees."

Catherine let out a low hiss and Steve folded his arms, staring past her at Elli who was glaring at the floor.

"You didn't even take anything to try and make it look like a burglary." Danny shrugged, "my guess is that you had such a good thing going with just smothering the old people that when things went wrong you panicked... You thought they would assume it was a robbery but you didn't take anything and the alarms didn't go off because you knew the code... and the whole operation fell apart."

"With your brother the mastermind behind it." Steve stated coldly.

Elli flinched in his seat as Catherine shifted her weight from one foot to another, the soles of her boots making a scratching noise on the floor.

"Tell us where Tamas is." Steve insisted, "Tell us Elli."

"I have nothing more to say to you." Elli snapped, turning his glaring eyes away almost indignantly.

"You don't…" Catherine couldn't finish her breathless mocking laugh at his words, as in disbelieving rage her vision turned red and she snapped.

Steve had no time to react as she lunged forwards, slamming her foot into the guys chest with a hard kick.

He cried out, the force of it pulling the iron bolt beneath the chair out of the floor, and making the guy topple backwards.

He landed on the floor with a crash, coughing, groaning and cursing, "You bitch why…"

She was over him then, crouched down, her hand on the man's throat, "Now you listen to me…" She hissed, "the only reason I am not going to choke you is because I believe you know where your brother, the man who killed my father, is…"

Danny closed his eyes and let air out of his cheeks, pushing his hands deeper in his pockets.

Steve stepped forwards, "Cath…"

"I want you to tell me who tried to smother my father and then put a bullet in him!" She pressed her hand harder to Elli's neck against the stone floor of the room and Elli cried out.

"Catherine." Steve snapped.

Her shoulder's stiffened and she looked down, pushing her teeth together but still glaring hard in Elli's face.

"Catherine step away."

Her head snapped around to meet his equally hard, yet pitying eyes.

"better listen to him pretty lady…" even through his gasping breaths Elli sniggered at her from where he was flat on his back, her crouching over him, "a real storm is going to come down if you lay another hand on me…"

Catherine gritted her teeth and slammed the back of her hand hard across his face, letting out a shout that mixed his Elli's pained cry as she did so.

She felt her jaw crack against her knuckles and she hissed in pain, yet barely felt it over the urge within her and she grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and made to drag him up again.

Steve went for her.

"Catherine that's enough!" He wrapped his hands under her arms and half threw her behind him. She staggered but caught herself, spinning to dive past him in order to start another assault.

"Catherine!" He smacked his arm out in a long hard wall to stop her passing, catching her in the ribs.

She let an 'Oof' and staggered back, almost hissing and snarling in rage.

"You guys are cops you can't beat me up!" Elli didn't sound so sure anymore where he remained on the floor.

"Stand down lieutenant." Steve told her firmly, holding his hand out like he was scolding a child.

She shook her head, striding forwards to go around him and smack Elli senseless but he shoved her back again, "enough!"

Cath had her SIG out of its holster faster than he gave her credit for.

The sight of her so tired, distraught, shaking, and holding her gun out past him towards a suspect, broke Steve's heart.

Elli gave a small yelp form his place on the floor and Danny straightened, swallowing as Steve went tense and Catherine pointed her gun past him at Elli on the floor.

Her arm didn't shake but her eyes trembled with furious tears, "he is going to tell me where his brother is," she hissed, "where the man who killed me father is."

Steve recognized her words and held his hands up, trying to calm her, one out towards Elli, the other palm up to her.

"Catherine, stand down." He said firmly, eyes imploring her to see, "you aren't going to shoot him. It's the not the way we do things..."

She scoffed, "coming from you?" She cried, "the man who drugs his girlfriend to sleep so he can run the case the way he wants, to stop her from finding out who _killed_ her own _father_?" her entire body shook, "after all the misdemeanors you have had, _you_ of all people are going to stand in front of me and tell me NOT to pursue my father's killer in this manner?"

She was staring at him with furious and broken disbelief and it churned in Steve's stomach.

Danny swallowed and looked on helplessly, running his tongue along his lower lip at Catherine's breaking facade of fury.

"You saw what it turned me into," Steve pressed on firmly, "you saw how it hurt me, and I won't see it happen to you. We will find Tamas but _not_ this way Catherine."

Her face recoiled like he had slapped her.

Her bleeding knuckles and teary eyes glared at Steve but he pressed on, straightening and standing firmly between her and Elli, who was still muttering on the floor.

"Stand down." Steve repeated firmly, "that's an order lieutenant."

Her eyes widened as she watched him cock his head to one side, pointing towards the door.

Her heart burst with anger and barely repressed fury and in one movement she scoffed, lowered her gun back to its holster.  
With one sharp strike she shoved herself to turn away from him and stormed from the bolt room, slamming the door behind her as she left it in silence.

Danny watched as Steve's hart broke as she left, before he swallowed and clung to the belief, the motive, that he had done it for her, to help her…

And indeed he had.

Danny stepped away from the wall and shot Steve a warning look, holding up a hand to say he would handle it, before he left after Catherine.

**FIVE O HQ – STEVE'S OFFICE – 06:45**

Catherine didn't look up when she heard the office floor open.

She didn't look up when footsteps walked across the floor towards her.

She knew it was not Steve.

Her eyes did not even lift when the man sat down in front of her on the low coffee table in front of the couch she sat on, hands clasped, elbows on her knees.

Danny watched as pale and glassy expression carefully, seeing sharp flashes of grief and rage coming through periodically as she breathed in and out.  
With deliberate slowness he reached on the desk for the first aid kit and sunk to sit on the small coffee table in front of her, being at eye level with her, knees brushing.

She watched as he unpacked it yet made no move to unwrap her arms from around herself.

"He won't tell us where Tamas is hiding." He murmured and she pushed her lips together, looking Away and blinking back angry tears as he unwrapped antiseptic and cotton pads.

"Kono and Chin are running background, known handouts, any other protestors they own, and ATS are going through CCTV to see if he is in the airport, or has been within the last seven hours..." Danny told her softly, "Tamas is also on the no fly list and the coastguard, and every HPD patrol and desk officer has his photo."

She swallowed and nodded, her voice catching, "he could have left the island by now."

"We will find him." He told her firmly, "I promise."

She nodded ever so slightly, but her eyes went distant, locked on his shoulder as she breathed, "Before… before we knew it was them… you said they were having deaths there ever two weeks," She whispered, "for almost a year... That's fifty people they have got away with killing so they could turn over profit and new buyers..."

"Not anymore." Danny stated, "Because we will catch Tamas and those families, and you, will get the justice they deserve."

She nodded, closing her eyes for a moment and swallowing as Danny gently stroked her shoulder.

Her watery eyes crumbled and she lifted her hands to her face, covering them with her palms as she started to cry out of frustration at herself, the situation and Steve.

"Come here hun'" Danny leant forwards off of the coffee table, wrapping his arms around her and letting her cry into his shoulder.

"There we go…" he rubbed her back, "cry… cry it's okay…"

"No its not." She sobbed in earnest, "I need to find his killer, I need to make it _right_…"

"And we will, _together_." He told her, "You, me, Kono, Chin and _Steve_…"

He felt her tense at the name so he swallowed and pressed on, "we will find Tamas together, and do it as a team, this isn't just on you Catherine…"

She clutched at the back of Danno's shirt, crying into his shoulder.

**FIVE O HQ – 'THE BULL RING' – 06:46**

Unbeknownst to the two friends embracing in his office, Steve watched through the blind sadly as Danny soothed Catherine.

Steve didn't know how to help her. He had tried to be quiet and supportive, but he couldn't stand by while she put herself in danger, just as Danny, Chin and Kono…_and_ Catherine, didn't when he was grieving similarly.

He remembered the rage, the need to push everyone away, to seek vengeance on his own… it was a dark glint in him that still rose every now and then, and he could see it forming in Catherine's eyes.

How could he protect her from the feeling he knew all too well? How could be protect a person he knew would never understand, accept, want or really _need_ his protection?

Cath and he were drifting apart over this and all he wanted, all he strove for, was to keep her close and safe…

But he was starting to realize that he couldn't protect her from the pain she was feeling, just as he couldn't when it was Billy who had died.

His expression was distant and sad when Kono approached him.

"Hey boss," she stopped at his side, waiting for him to glance own at her tiredly, "we pulled some data on Tamas…"

He took the envelope she was holding out to him and opened it.

Kono ran her hands over her hips as she watched him scan it, "it doesn't tell us where he is, but it might be enough to get Elli to help us."

Steve's eyes hardened and he straightened upright.


	5. Chapter 5

**FIVE O HQ - THE QUESTIONING CELL – 07:15**

"So." With a flick of the wrist Steve hurled the folder Kono had handed him at Elli.

It bounced off of his chest and smacked down on the cold floor as Steve folded his arms, staring down at the man in the chair.

Kono and Chin stood either side of him just behind him, their own arms crossed or handing by their hips in fists.

"Your brother was released from prison a year ago, and your father bought the complex of retirement homes here on Oahu, intending for it to be a joint business venture for the two of you…" Steve lifted his eyebrows, "You were a model citizen unlike your brother, I can only imagine that he hoped you, along with having a business to run, would keep Tamas on the straight and narrow."

Elli opened his mouth to speak but no words came out, as it slowly dawned on him that the three in front of him were to asking for confirmation.

They were telling him what they now knew.

"But things didn't work out like that did they?" Chin stepped forward, "only a few weeks after the deeds were signed with him as the owner of the complex and you two as managers, he died in his sleep, found cold in his bed by his eldest son…" Chin was shaking his head.

Elli's eyes narrowed and he looked between them all like a deer caught in headlights, "what are you…"

"Wasn't that handy for Tamas..." Steve's jaw flexed, "that your father died in his sleep and left the business to you both to own and do what you liked with…"

"Isn't it a _coincidence_?" Kono looked at Elli sharply, "that your brother Tamas found your father dead of natural causes, like so many family members have found residents of _your_ retirement village smothered and thinking it was natural causes!"

Silence filled the air like a chill, and Elli's face fell, his throat closing, "what do you mean?"

"We mean that we have reason to believe that your brother started this killing spree of old people with the murder of your father." Chin stated, "We believe he killed him to gain control of the business, and then he couldn't stop himself from killing more and more people to turn a profit, and that you helped him do it…"

"No…"

"All to get your hands on more _money_…"Kono snarled.

"It wasn't like that!"

Elli's cry made them all take a step back, staring at the man with sleep deprived, frightened, and sickened eyes.

Steve held his gaze.

"Then what was it like?"

**FIVE O HQ – STEVE'S OFFICE – 07:30**

Danny's hands dropped away from her shoulders and back and she opened her eyes as he wrapped his palm around her wrist, gently lifting it into his lap.

She remained perfectly still, watching his slow, careful and caring actions as he wiped at the scrapes on her knuckles and the back of her palm from her assault on Elli, gently cradling her fist in his free hand.

Her eyes moved from his actions cleaning her scrapes to look into his eyes.

His light irises were focused on the task in hand, yet she recognized the ripples in them of deep worry on his part.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, and immediately his gaze snapped up to meet hers, "I just..."

"Don't you ever apologize for how you grieve." He informed her, hand hands still around hers in his lap, "least of all to me."

She swallowed and nodded, a tear spilling from her eye.

He looked down at his work, still cleaning the scrapes as she began to speak.

"You know before last weekend I hadn't seen my dad on a beach."

He pretended to peer at her knuckles for a minute.

He pretended to mull it over in his head as he secretly and silently rejoiced that she was remembering, rather than pushing the feelings away.

He shrugged, "I still think it's over rated."

His attempt to make her smile work, as a flash of an easy reminiscing grin touched her lips, and her eyes sparkled with something oh her than tears.

He put his elbows on his knees, shirt selves pushed up around them, hand clasped around her wrist a now he turned his attention to the bruising on her arms, and he scrape near her elbow, she had received from diving into the boat the day before to tackle Elli.

She kept her eyes forwards and her jaw flexed letting out a sigh before she told him, "It was my dad's dream to retire to Hawaii... I heard him talk about it often enough... He loved it here." She sniffed and stared out to sea, her voice soft over the sound of laughter not he beach below, "even though there aren't many places on earth more dissimilar to Washington than Hawaii."

"Your dad was from Washington?" Danny's eyes shot up, "he was east coast?"

"Well he was born there and went to school there. But when he joined the navy he moved around slot, he wasn't stationed at pearl as much as is as, but he thought it was great when he was there." She smiled sadly, "I know you won't agree but the beaches and sun look very welcoming after you e been on an aircraft carrier for months."

Danny couldn't help but chuckle in good nature, "I'll allow that transgression in judgment just because it's you... Must have been hard, moving around slot."

"My mum didn't like waiting for him, having to uproot her life every few months or years." She murmured, "I was a kid and he was my dad... I didn't really care where we were as long as he was with us, it was hard when he was gone months at a time..." Catherine looked down at her hands thoughtfully, "But only a few years after I joined the academy I think her resentment for him became too much, they separated and I haven't seen them in the same room, apart from my lieutenant certification, since."

"That must've been rough." Danny couldn't help but think of Grace, and all the reasons why he didn't want to drags Rachel through the mud in contest of the custody agreement changes.

Catherine whispered, "Yeh it was..."

**FIVE O HQ - THE QUESTIONING CELL – 07:35**

"I know you would do anything to protect your brother, he's your family and you love him," Steve's voice was low and rough, and his eyes were cold, "But that man you killed last night was my gir-" his voice caught.

Remembering the furious look in Cath's eyes, and the tears that spilled from them, so angry at _him _for trying to help her and protect her.

He pushed it away. He needed to get closure for her, and Elli would deliver it to him.

"That man your brother smothered and shot was my friend's father," he stated, "and I want _you_ to tell me _now_… _where_ your brother is… because he is the one that killed him."

"He did but…" Elli swallowed and nodded, knowing lying was not much good now, "Tamas is my brother… when he came out of prison he was different, darker, _colder_…" his eyes implored the three watching cops to understand, "but he was still my _brother_. My father thought, as you said, that running the business for him would keep Tamas out of trouble, I have no qualifications, and it also served as a way to get me a job… Tamas wouldn't have killed him though."

"Are you sure?" Kono narrowed her eyes.

"He…"

"You are absolutely sure that he did not kill your father in exactly the same way as you watched him murder nearly a _hundred_ other people as they _slept_?" Steve thundered, smacking the steel chair that was in front of him and empty, down on the concrete floor with a crash.

"I never had a part in it… not in the actual killing…" Elli shook as he watched the head of Five O kick the chair across the room, pacing up and down as he struggled to explain, "To tell you the truth it was _months_ before I figured out what was going on… I thought that when I deactivated the alarms and Tamas went inside that he was stealing money or something…"

"And that would have been acceptable-" Chin's voice rose.

"Of course not…" Elli was beginning to realize that there was very little he could say that would make this better for him, "but it's not _murder_…" he gasped.

"Yet he _did_ murder people, and you _stood by_…" Steve was snarling.

"It was always rather quick and painless," Elli held his hands up and all three Five O members made a sickened noise, "he would only be in the house a few minutes, with me stood watching guard… but last night… the old man he took Tamas by surprise, tackled him and fought him… I ran upstairs when I heard the gunfire… and I tried to stop the bleeding I did, put my gloved hands on his chest but he was gone… Tamas wrenched me to my feet, shoved the gun at me and said we had to go… he bolted, leaving me behind… but I caught up after locking the door again and ditching the gloves and the gun… he's my brother…"

Chin thrust a finger at him, "Brother or not you stood by when he killed those people just so new ones could move in. He had a factory operation going… churning them in and in to gain more and more money…"

"And I bet you never saw a lot of it did you?" Steve spoke to him as though he was stupid, "that house we raided… where we caught you… that's your house isn't it… is your brother up in his giant villa now, or in a compound perhaps?"

Elli looked down, his shoulders sagging through fatigue and pain at being cuffed to the chair all night. He swallowed and the words tumbled from his mouth, "I never wanted to kill those people but…"

"But _what_?" Steve snapped in disgust.

"Tamas would be killed me…"Elli was almost begging, "and if he hadn't he would have been sent to prison for the rest of his life… I did it to _protect_ him."

**FIVE O HQ – STEVE'S OFFICE – 07:40**

"Cath," Danny looked up at her softly, "I only met him the once, last weekend when he moved here and we went to side street, but it was a pleasure, and I mean that." Danny reached to rub her arm, "and I'm really sorry babe."

She smiled and nodded, "yeh... And it's because I'm like him so much that I just... Just..." She drew in a breath to steady herself, "I need to work through this, as well thinking and dealing with it that way."

"Okay." Danny smiled at her, before his eyes dropped, his smile vanished, and he swallowed thoughtfully, "as a father, I can tell you what would have made him the most happy, was seeing you happy…"

She knew what he was going to say, and she couldn't watch him say it, couldn't see the look in his eyes.

She pulled her hand from his and wrapped her arms back around herself, eyes locked on Steve's desk to her right.

"I don't agree with everything Steve does, you know that," Danny was reminding her, "but he only _does it_ to _protect_ you…"

"He _can't_ protect me from my grief though." She swallowed thickly, eyes spinning around to him.

"I know…" Danny breathed, "and he knows it too, which is what makes it hard…" he sighed, "because not only does he _know_ what you are going through…" he licked his lower lip, "you need to understand that he would do _anything_ to _protect_ the one he loves... even if it's in _vain_."

**FIVE O HQ - THE QUESTIONING CELL – 07:45**

"You _can't_ protect people like Tamas." Steve growled, bending forwards to hiss in his face, "Not from people like _us_, not from _justice_."

Elli blinked, tears in his eyes, suddenly looking so much younger than he was.

Steve straightened, still holding his gaze and his entire being in judgment, "Now tell us where he is, we know you know."

Kono and Chin did not move as Elli looked down, clearly battling with himself.

"Get him to meet us." Steve had compromised as far as he was willing to, but not gone as far as he was willing to go, to get justice for Catherine.

He produced his phone from his pocket and held it out to Elli, in his palm just in front of his face.

Slowly the man looked up at him and swallowed, meeting the sincere eyes of commander McGarret who was speaking once more.

"You do this, and we will ask him whether or not he killed your father, just like he killed Catherine's and fifty others."


	6. Chapter 6

**FIVE O HQ –08:00**

"We have got him," Chin stuck his head around Steve's office door, and his words had Danny and Catherine on their feet instantly.

"Elli has arranged to meet him in an alley near the airport, under the pretense that he is going to give him his passport." Chin explained, "Suit up, let's go…"

Catherine swallowed and stepped around Danny, who followed her as they marched to the door.

They exited into the Bull Ring at the exact moment when Steve and Kono came around the corner, carrying body armor and determined expressions.

Kono strode to catch up with Chin, and Danny stopped short of following them when Catherine and Steve both ceased in their tracks.

He had slowed to allow her to go ahead of him, but the words pushing against both their lips made them stop completely.

His eyes met hers and she swallowed, straightening and finding herself a coward for looking away.

Steve had only just opened his mouth when she turned and strode after Kono and Chin, tying her hair securely up and squaring her shoulders.

Steve checked his SIG and locked his jay, holstering it before marching after her.

Danny sighed and followed as he always did, running his hand over hair.

**AN ALLEY NEAR HONOLULU AIRPORT – 09:00**

Tamas Leo emerged into the sunlight, wearing all black, a ski mask tucked in his pocket.

He blinked like a tortoise emerging from its shell, lifting a hand to shield his eyes from the new morning sunlight, already bright in the sky, as he peered up to get a glimpse of an aero plane which was taking off over head.

The roar of its engines filled his head and he allowed himself a glimpse at what he thought was his future.

A wry smile touched his lips as he imagined sitting on a similar plan, passport in hand, off to lay lie for a low with his millions, before he could return.

A bright spark in the corner of his eye, like a reflection off of a gun barrel…

_Scuff_.

The sound of feet on the sandy tarmac beneath him made Tamas spin, gun out of his pocket and aiming his forwards.

"Woah woah woah…" Elli held his hands up, passport in hand, "Tamas it is me."

Tamas' eyes narrowed at the sight of his younger, oh so simple, brother, "Are you alone?"

"Yes, Tamas."

"No cops?"

"No!"

"You weren't followed."

"No… no its just me." Elli swallowed, walking forwards, passport outstretched, "You'll be needing this if you want to lay low for a while… we don't have to kill anymore… I mean you don't... I didn't actually kill anyone…"

Tamas sneered at his brother's ramblings, the closest he ever got to a smile. He shoved the passport in his pocket, and lifted his un-gun-holding hand to his brother's neck.

"everything I have ever done has been for our family, to keep us safe, to protect us and what we had.. the lifestyle we deserve."

These words were what Elli had dreaded.

They were the cold hard confirmation that Five O had been right, Tamas had killed their father.

Rage seethed through him and he started to his through his teeth, shaking as though he was on the verge of a panic attack.

Tamas stared at his brother through narrowed eyes, "what the hell is the matter with you…"

_Click_.

The sound a few meters behind him made Tamas spin, pulling his gun from his hip and holding it out in front of him, ready to fire.

He straightened and tensed in the same motion when he saw two men in body armor, badges on their hips, gun's raised, approach him, a silver Camaro blocking the exit to the alleyway behind them.

Swallowing, Tamas looked briefly over his shoulder at the other end of the alleyway.

Between him and it, stood Chin and Catherine.

His eyes flitted upward, and as the sun was blocked by an aero plane, he could see Kono sat over a sniper rifle, it trained on his every move.

He dew in a stuttering breath and spun as Steve spoke out.  
"Tamas Leo, we are five O…" he declared, "We are here to arrest you for the murder of fifty of your residents of the Leo retirement village, including Admiral Rollins last night, you remember him don't you Tamas, the one you _shot_ because you couldn't tackle him and smother I'm as you wanted to…"

Tamas sneered, "You know nothing…"

"Did you kill your father to?" Danny demanded, "Did you kill him so you could get a hold of the business?"

Tamas' eyes darkened and he straightened; face contorting as though he had swallowed something bitter.

"I take that as ayes…" Steve murmured.

"Your brother knows." Chin shouted at him, getting his attention back as Danny and Steve continued their advance, "He knows what you did… you won't ever come out of prison…"

"Put your weapons down." Danny demanded.

Flashing one arm out to the side Tamas wrapped his arm around Elli's neck and held him back against his chest, gun barrel firmly to his throat.

"Let me go…" He snarled at Steve, guessing correctly he was the man in charge, "let me go and I won't blow his head off…"

"He is going to prison too…" Danny reminded him, "So as hostages go you haven't picked a good one…"

"Let him go." Steve shouted, "Now…"

Tamas' eyes turned to his right and he saw the small dumpster before anyone else.

He saw it against the low wall which separated them from the road, and he sat that it was too close beneath the sniper gun to be in range.

His fingers turned around the pistol and shoved Elli away from him, shooting to his right.

Chin fell backwards.

"Chin!" Kono shouted from above.

Catherine was over him, staring into his eyes that blinked repeatedly.

In the frenzy Tamas spun and bolted forwards.

He leapt atop the dumpster and over the wall, dropping down onto the sidewalk.

Steve was only half a step behind him

**HONOLULU AIRPORT INTERSECTION– 09:10**

As Tamas raced out onto the road, dodging serving cars, Steve had to leap over a speeding car, which slammed into the back of a stopped one, between the bonnets, to keep pace.

Heading for the central reservation blindly Tamas spun and let out a shot off.

Steve felt it slam into his arm before he fell forwards, unable to run anymore as he felt blood seep through his shirt and down his arm, causing him to roll hard along the road.

Danny, who had just dropped down over the wall, saw Steve fall.

**AN ALLEY NEAR HONOLULU AIRPORT – 09:11**

"It hit my vest, I'm just winded…" Cath was pulling Chin hurriedly to his feet when it happened.

"_Steve_!" Danny's booming voice, the sound of gunfire, and the screeching brakes of cars, all happened simultaneously for her.

She spun, all the breath leaving her body as she raced blindly forwards around the back of the alley and out towards the road.

**HONOLULU AIRPORT INTERSECTION– 09:13**

Cars were piling up, people were shouting and screaming, staying hidden in their cars, as Tamas made it to the intersection.

Steve pushed himself up onto his front, struggling to his feet, holding his SIG in one hand, ignoring the pulse of the blood from his arm down to his wrist as he ran forwards, feeling Danny come up behind him, aware he was in the middle of a packed lane of traffic, cars screeching to a halt all around.

_BANG_.

Not only did the sound make Steve's head hurt, and all in their cars look up, it came when he saw Tamas fall.

Blearily, sinking back onto one arm, gripping to keep pressure on his wound beneath his body armor, he swore he saw something move atop the building beside the alley.

Kono.

**THE ROOFTOP OF AN AIRPORT BUILDING – 09:14**

Kono straightened away from the sniper gun as soon as her target hit the floor.

She cursed, because it had only hit his leg.

Tamas Leo hit the floor with his mouth and eyes open in shock, the hands that had killed so many not breaking his fall as he cracked down on the hot pavement onto his knees, gun falling from his hand.

**HONOLULU AIRPORT INTERSECTION– 09:15**

Tamas looked up into the sun and it blinded him, enveloping him in a burning sensation that he relished.

Steve and Danny were approaching him from behind, one wounded to the arm, the other clutching his gun just as tightly.

Yet the world went dark for Tamas with no sound of bullets to accompany it.

He opened his eyes and saw the dark haired police officer standing before him.

Catherine swallowed, tears in her eyes, staring down at the murderer on his knees before her, his leg pooling blood.

Slowly, she lifted her gun to aim the barrel a few inches from the center of his forehead.

"Do it…" Tamas hissed, "go on..."

"That man you shot last night in his own _home_," her voice cracked, "was my dad… and I loved him… a love I know you can never understand because you murdered your father..." she hissed, "and I thought that killing you would give me the greatest pleasure but…"

To her he knew looked pathetic.

And in his eyes she could see herself, and she didn't like what she saw.

Her dad wouldn't have like what she was becoming, what Steve was trying to stop her becoming, just as she had tried to help him when he lost his way after his own father's death.

She swallowed and straightened, Danny and Steve watching as she gripped the gun tighter.

It wavered slightly between Tamas' eyes just as several HPD and SWAT vehicles screamed to a halt.

"I don't want to save your life." She swallowed.

Tamas gazed at her expectantly, but her shoulders dropped and she discarded her gun, tossing it over his shoulder and towards Steve.

Her hand's unclenched and she let out a long sure breath and her eyes lifted to lock with Steve's wide ones.

Although she spoke to Tamas, her words struck him most of all.

"_But it's what we do."_

**HONOLULU AIRPORT INTERSECTION– 10:00**

Police cars were pulling away, and a Prison van was taking Elli and Tamas Leo away.

Duke was taking statements from people, and cops were instructing the traffic to move around the ambulances and patrol cars that we sat about.

Danny, Chin and Kono were stood beside the SWAT van talking to Grover.

"How is she?" Grover looked from them to Catherine, who was stood in the empty lane of traffic, staring after the Prison van which was taking the man who murdered her father, and his brother who let him, away.

She had her arms around herself, eyes distant and glassy, hair fluttering in the wind.

"They are going away for the rest of their lives. I think that's the closure she needs…" Kono murmured.

"And she chose to let Tamas live, rather than shoot him as he did her father." Chin reminded them, "That was her decision."

"It was the right one." Danny muttered, pushing his hands in his pockets, "Now at least, she can try and move on…"

"But what about her and Steve?" Kono looked worried.

Grover closed his eyes and sighed, looking as they all did, across the road to where Steve sat on the back of an ambulance, feet firmly on the floor, a paramedic leaning over him, cleaning the bullet wound on his arm.

"How is he?"

The soft voice made Steve's eyes snap up to see Catherine approaching, her arms folded, swallowing thickly as her eyes cast over him to the paramedic who was finishing his bandage.

Steve's stomach churned with a cold feeling.

"It is just a flesh wound." The paramedic explained, "Not need to go to hospital, just keep the bandage on for a few hours, and dry."

She nodded, swallowing thickly, offering a tiny smile to the paramedic, one that vanished when her eyes turned back to Steve.

Sensing the tension, the paramedic turned and strode away to see the rest of his team.

Steve held her gaze, until after three passing moments they both sighed heavily and looking town, a sadness they weren't expecting seeping into their eyes.

"That was a generous thing you did, letting Tamas live." He murmured, "It was very brave."

"It's nothing you haven't done." She murmured, "You were right… it's what we do."

Her words were so clipped and short, and she flexed her arms that Steve swallowed and stood, "Listen Cath…"

"Steve I…"

As their words lapped over one another they stiffened and sighed heavily, rubbing their eyes and looking away.

It was all too tense, too formal.

Catherine felt her heart squirm. She was relieved, and felt justice, and the stare if what to be closure even though she would always miss her dad…

But now she felt like she missed Steve.

He fisted his hands at his sides and gritted his teeth, opening his eyes to stare at her downcast face, "Cath I'm not any good at this, alright you know that…" he swallowed, "and I am not making excuses for that because… look." He put his hands to his eyes briefly as he fought to control what he was trying to say, "I was having to watch you go through something I remembered as being the most _difficult_ time in my life…" his voice cracked.

Although she couldn't look up at him, blinded by tears as she was, she pushed her lips together to try and stop them.

"And what was hard was that it wasn't about me, it was about you." He cleared his throat, "and I wanted to help you, but I couldn't…"

He was scrambling for the right words, knowing that he was crap at this... yet it had never been more important.

"I am crap at these emotionally conversations, or conversations about emotions, you know that and… and…" he coughed, "life for me, up until we got… you know… was just one mission after another, case after case, and I suddenly couldn't fix something that was hurting you _so_ much…"He made a small choking noise, "and I tried, I really did… to let you do it, but… but you were hurting and I know I shouldn't have mad max drug you but you needed to rest and I didn't want you becoming what you saved me from becoming but…" he drew in a much needed breath through his teeth, "you are better at the whole relationship thing than I am, you are more normal, and I am_ not_, it seems, capable of letting you muddle through your grief because I was terrified I would lose you in it and that is selfish…"

He cleared his throat, eyes wide and tears in them.

Slowly she looked up at him as he ran his tongue along his lower lip.

"the truth is Cat," he murmured, "I could see you loosing yourself as I nearly did… and I was terrified that I was going to lose you… and that was selfish because your dad and had just died and it wasn't about me…"

Catherine drew in a small stuttering breath and blinked away tears, "You wanted to help me… and I didn't meant what I said, about you and Wo Fat that was callous and I was just upset, and that doesn't justify it but… you were right…" she nodded tearily, "it's what we do… we spare people… because we aren't _like_ them… and I _couldn't_ see it, I didn't _want_ to see it because I was _so_ _so _angry…" Her voice cracked and Steve nodded.

"I know… I know Cath…"

"I was angry at you because it was easier than dealing with the _pain _ and…" She let out a small sob, "and now it's over I am _so_ sorry…"

"I'm so sorry…." He stepped forwards, arms opening.

She let out a small cry and he wrapped his arms tight around her, her face pushing into his neck as she reached up behind him, gripping the backs of his shoulders and his shirt as she cried into his shoulder, him cradling her head, fingers delving in her hair.

"I'm so sorry Cath…" He pulled back.

"I know… I'm sorry too…" She sniffed, tears falling down her cheeks.

As he cradled her face he bent forwards, giving her a firm and loyal kiss.

She fisted her hands on the back of his shoulders and arched her body under his, clinging too him.

"Your dad would be so proud of you…" He murmured, pulling back with eyes closed to press his forehead to hers.

"Thank you…" She whispered almost silently, "_thank you_, for helping me find out who did it…"

They kissed again, before they hugged tightly, her pressing her face into his shoulder as he rocked them from side to side, rubbing her back and kissing her hair repeatedly.

Catherine felt whole in the strong shelter of his arms.

Across the lot, Danny, Chin, Kono and Grover smiled in relief at seeing the two embrace so tightly.


	7. Chapter 7

**MCGARRETT/ROLLINS RESIDENCE**

"Thank you for coming today…"

At her words Danny hugged Catherine tightly, gently stroking her back, the last in their small group to do so.

Chin and Kono were stood just to his side, having shaken hands with and hugged Steve, who looked somber in his dress blues.

Catherine was wearing the simple black dress she had worn to the funeral of 'Dicey Hot'. She didn't feel the need to buy anything special, for she could imagine her dad saying that no one had to make a special effort for his funeral…

She could imagine him rolling his eyes and waving away the spread and farewell he had been given.

Steve had been by her side the whole day, resting his hand on the small of her back when she needed it, putting his arm around her shoulder as they watched his coffin go in the ground, and although he was saluting with his other, he reached for her hand when the three gun salute shattered the air.  
Catherine hadn't cried.

It had felt like closure, and although it was sad, it felt like things were moving in the right direction for her.

Yes, her dad was gone, but the men responsible for her it were not going anywhere.

Danny let her go, and turned to Steve.

Catherine's eyes moved to the photos of her father which were laid out on the buffet table amidst the sandwiches and sausage rolls.

There were photos of her as a child, then at the naval academy, then one of her, Steve and her dad, outside his new home on Hawaii, taken only two weeks previous.

She swallowed, walking towards this image and lifting it from the table.

"How's she doing?" Danny whispered to Steve, whose eyes had followed Cath's moves.

"About as well as can be expected… she lost her dad and… now she just has to learn to live without him being there."

"She won't be doing it on her own." Danny reminded him.

Steve nodded, quiet in his own house which was full of people in naval uniform he did not know, men who had hugged Catherine as though they knew everything about her, and told her time and time again that her father would have been so proud of her, and that they were thankful that they caught the villains who were behind it.

"He would have laughed at all of this, and told everyone to stop moping around and go for beer…" Steve chuckled at the memory, "he would have hated all this somber…" his words trailed away when it dawned on him, as it had on Catherine, that the larger than life admiral was not coming back.

He sighed "but he would have appreciated it, and no doubt commented on the fact I should be in uniform more… like you he uh, _questioned_, for want of a better word, why they are called dress blues when they are black."

"He was a smart Guy," Danny nodded, "it is a reasonable question."

Danny sensed Steve's attention was drawn back to Catherine, his eyes flitting to her back every few seconds.

Danny walked to Kono and Chin, both looking around sadly, discussing politely the photos of Cath and her dad with and the old sailor who had come to the house the night Geoff Rollins was killed.

Steve slowly walked away from the crowd of mourners towards Catherine, who stood with her back to it all, staring down at the photo she held.

In it, on a perfectly mown Hawaiian front lawn, Steve and Catherine stood with her father, beaming at the camera. Steve and Cath alike had protested having the photo taken, but he had insisted, wanting one of them with him outside his new home.

The home he would only live in for two weeks.

Slowly, so he didn't startle her, Steve reached to wrap his arm gently around her shoulders, tilt her towards his chest as three tears spilled down her cheeks.

"He was happy." She drew in a breath, "and I am happy, that those who killed him are gone… and that he can be at peace now."

"Yeh…"Steve murmured into her hair, stroking it softly as he had done when he had consoled her at Billy's funeral, "and I know he loved you very much…" he whispered, "as do I…"

Her eyes fluttered closed as she he kissed her temple, her fingers pushing hair from her eyes as she blinked rapidly in a naïve attempt to stop the tears as they slipped through, the photo still held in her hand to her chest.

Her voice was as thick as it had been that day in Afghanistan, and the words were no less true.

"_I love you too._"


End file.
